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Her mouth fell open like a goldfish. Mr Stubbs was thanking her…
‘You obviously have friends in very high places.’
‘Me…?’ Liza breathed, a hand to her chest. ‘I don’t understand.’ She shook her head in bemusement; she had half expected a policeman to be waiting for her, not a grinning Mr Stubbs. ‘What has happened?’ she asked, and Mr Stubbs proceeded to tell her in detail.
Apparently Mr Stubbs had been approached on Friday afternoon by the Spanish Embassy and within the hour a detective from the Spanish police was interviewing him. He was informed his top executive Henry Brown was a diamond thief, and he had used the company expense account to hire yachts to transport the diamonds with the help of a motley crew, now all in custody.
Mr Stubbs had spent Saturday morning at the office and confidentially provided the Spanish authorities with the relevant expense documents that they requested.
Then to his amazement and relief the Spanish police had told him they had it on the excellent authority of a Señor Niculoso Menendez that the firm of Stubbs and Company was completely blameless, as was a Miss Liza Summers, who had been inadvertently drawn into the plot and been instrumental in helping the capture of the thief. They had departed with the words that obviously, as the case was to be tried in Spain, it was unlikely to make the British Press, but even if it did he had nothing to fear. The names of Stubbs and Company and Miss Summers would not be made public.
Liza could not take it all in, and she sat in a daze as Mr Stubbs rattled on about how grateful he was to her. Slowly it dawned on her it was solely because of Nick’s intervention she was not now languishing in a Spanish jail. He was a hero, according to Mr Stubbs. A regular, modern-day James Bond, as he so succinctly put it.
‘My God, Liza, have you any idea how lucky you were? Apparently the day after you left Lanzarote the optician’s receptionist was brutally beaten up by two of the gang. That’s what happens when thieves begin to fall out. They look for everyone connected to the crime. They called the hotel you were staying in at Teguise, looking for you, and discovered you were in Spain with Señor Menendez—you were probably next on their list.’
‘Me!’ Liza’s mouth fell open in shocked horror, she had seen the receptionist when she had gone to the shop, and the whole affair took on a nightmare flavour.
‘Yes, my girl. Menendez had a security cordon placed around his family home, and took you away to a safe house. He very probably saved your life, because the two villains were finally picked up four days later trying to board a flight for Malaga. A bit too close for comfort, hmm?’
Finally Mr Stubbs ended with he was bored with retirement after only two months and quite relieved to return to work, and of course Liza would resume as his secretary. But Liza wasn’t listening; she was in a state of shock.
‘Comfortable, darling?’ Liza’s mum asked as Liza fastened her seat belt. ‘You look a bit pale.’
Pale wasn’t the word; terrified was more like it, Liza thought drily, at what she was about to do. It was over two months since she had left Spain, and now she was going back. She tried to tell herself she was simply accepting Anna Menendez’s offer to spend Easter with her mother at her home. But the reality was she was hoping to see Nick. At the very least she owed him a huge apology and quite possibly her life…
After her meeting with Mr Stubbs Liza had returned to her studio apartment in Kensington in a state of utter confusion. She accepted that, even if Nick had suspected she was involved in the diamond theft, he had gone out of his way to protect her, whisking her away from Lanzarote to Spain, and then again to the ski-cabin when he thought her life was in danger, keeping her safe while all the culprits were rounded up and, according to Mr Stubbs, persuading Carl Dalk, the owner of the diamonds, to drop any charges that could have been brought against her for acting as a courier on the island.
Rather than the lying, lecherous apology of a man she had called Nick. He was a hero; he had very probably saved her life or saved her from a beating. She knew everything he had done he had done for her, to protect her name and her reputation.
With the exception of the sex, she amended wryly, but Nick was a powerful, virile man; he had asked and she had agreed. And where was it written that a hero had to be celibate?
Night after sleepless night, Liza had been tormented by the memory of his lovemaking, her body hot and aching with frustration. She had let Nick think she was sophisticated about sex. She had been determined not to fall in love with him, because she was afraid of being hurt, convinced he was not the type for commitment. But now she was haunted by the thought that perhaps they could have had more than a brief affair if she had been more honest with him.
Very soon she would find out… Over the past three days Liza had spent hours preparing a speech of apology and thanks, and she was determined to deliver it in person to Nick if humanly possible; as for the rest, she could hope…
‘I’m fine.’ Flashing her mother a brief smile, Liza settled back in her seat, but her stomach was churning with fear and anticipation. In a few hours she would be back in Nick’s family home, and hopefully see the man himself.
Seated in the small sitting room that Anna Menendez kept as her own, the greetings over, and having finished the tea that had been offered, Liza took little part in the conversation.
Her mother and Anna were so obviously delighted in each other’s company she felt a bit like a third wheel. She was dying to ask if Nick was around, but did not dare.
‘This must be boring for you, Liza.’ Anna smiled across at her from her position ne
xt to her mother on a comfortable sofa. ‘Why don’t you go and freshen up, have a rest, or look around? It’s a nice, sunny day.’
‘Well, if you don’t mind.’ Liza got to her feet with alacrity; perhaps she might bump into Nick if he was here, or subtly question Manuel as to Nick’s whereabouts. In her present state of nervous tension, anything was better than sitting doing nothing.
‘You are in the blue room again, Liza. Manuel has already taken your luggage up. You run along; Pamela and I have a lot of gossip to catch up on.’ The two older women shared a smile. ‘We will see you back here about seven for drinks. Dinner is at eight. I thought a quiet meal for your first evening. There will only be the four of us, that is if Niculoso ever arrives. I have hardly seen him in the past few weeks,’ Anna confided with a slight grimace.
Liza’s heart missed a beat and she had to battle down a blush at the mention of his name. ‘Well, he is a very busy man,’ she murmured. But the uppermost thought in her mind was that she would see Nick tonight…
‘So he keeps telling me, but aren’t we all?’ Anna turned to smile at Pam.
Knowing she would not be missed, Liza said, ‘If you will excuse me,’ and headed for the door.
With her blonde hair swept up into a twist on the top of her head, a few stray tendrils teased around her face and neck to soften the style, Liza donned a blue silk sheath dress. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror; spaghetti straps supported the bodice and the fabric skimmed her shapely figure to end just above her knees. Not bad, she told herself, and, slipping her feet into high-heeled sandals, she was ready.
She drew a deep, steadying breath, and left the room. Manuel directed her into the small sitting room, and she stopped. Nick was there and pouring the drinks, impeccably attired in full evening dress, his international-playboy image on display. His awesome masculine presence took her breath away, and for a moment she was unable to think of anything over the pounding of her heart.
